Documentation of my ho-hum and not so ho-hum adventures with knitting, spinning and this thing called life.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Friends & Fiber

Know what's in these boxes?

Last week I was invited to a friend's house/studio. It was such a treat. Joanne has several awesome spinning wheels including an operating great wheel. She let me spin on two wheels, a Schacht and a Majacraft. I got along well with the Schacht, probably because it is single treadle like my Polonaise. The Majacraft and I would take a little getting used to one another, she is double treadle. Joanne also has lots of fiber preparation tools that she graciously demonstrated for me. (Joanne, I'm still fighting with the "handles together" thingy!!!!)

I had lots of fun feeling her various fibers, Romney, Jacob, Shetland, Southland Down(?), Cormo, camel, etc., etc., etc. You think you got lots of fiber/yarn? You ain't seen nothin!!!! But, to her defense, she does do quite a bit of design work for various yarn companies, web-sites and for her own publication. It was interesting hearing about her upcoming book to be released in 2008 I believe.Joanne sent me home with some lovely fibers to try, Cormo locks, llama, and some other stuff I can't remember. Plus, I purchased some wonderful Romney roving from her. Eight pounds to be exact!!!!!! I bought 3 lbs of a deep, deep brown, 3lbs of white and 2 lbs of a grayish brown. They are all very nice and softer than other Romney I have dealt with. You know how I love Romney, such a friendly, friendly fiber.

Wow, you make my house sound like a fiber amusement park! (next time, I'll crate the dogs and let you comb if you want. I was just afraid to combine the two..bad things could result...)

I think I showed you Southdown? I don't think you came home with any Cormo from me...maybe from June? but maybe Border Leicester? Llama? Wow, even I can't remember. You're welcome to spin on any of my wheels any time--we just have to get the great wheel or the production wheel set up for your experiments!

What beautiful rovings! I'm glad you got plenty of each. I used up a lot of my Icelandic Chloe making samples. You will have enough to make samples and spin something special. A natural colored Fair Isle sweater would be lovely, can't wait to see what they become.